Did you Cruise to Norway this year- tour help needed

[StitchJoJo]

We are sailing the Magic to Norway from Dover next May and want to look at doing some independent tours so we are looking for recommendations for tours/tour companies that you have used, enjoyed and would tour with again.

our ports of call are Alesund, Gerainger, Bergen and Stavanger.

hope someone has some good recommendations, I have always wanted to see the beauty of Norway and despite living in the UK and Norway being close enough, we have never done so. What better way to see it than on a beautiful ship.

 

[DahliaRW]

In Geiranger there are several tour companies that take you up to the viewpoints and such. We did a bus tour with http://www.geirangerfjord.no/ to the two lower viewpoints.

There is a lovely walk up some steps by several waterfalls up to the fjord center. The walk was beautiful and the center was really interesting about the history of the area. It's really easy to do on your own and inexpensive. I did the bus tour in the AM (around 10 I think), went back to the boat for lunch, then spent the afternoon perusing the port, going up the waterfall walk, and spending around 90 minutes up at the fjord center.

Also, don't miss the chocolate shop. I wish I'd bought more! http://geirangersjokolade.no/?page_id=1213

In Bergen, it's really easy to do things on your own. I know there were a lot of people on our cruise that were disappointed with their outside tours there, as well as their DCL tours. The boat docks a couple of blocks from Bergunhus Festning/Bryggen. Rosencranz Tower and Hakon's Hall are there and are really interesting, and there are daily tours in English, free with admission. Just a bit up Bryggen from that is the Bryggens Museum which showcases some actual ruins of old Bergen and information on the Medieval Bergen. And the Funicular is walkable as well (it can get crowded later in the day, so I recommend going earlier in the morning). Beautiful views over Bergen, and a fantastic playground at the top if you have children. Stop by the bakery, God Brodt, it was my family's favorite!

 

[DISGRL13]

In Geiranger there are several tour companies that take you up to the viewpoints and such. We did a bus tour with http://www.geirangerfjord.no/ to the two lower viewpoints.

There is a lovely walk up some steps by several waterfalls up to the fjord center. The walk was beautiful and the center was really interesting about the history of the area. It's really easy to do on your own and inexpensive. I did the bus tour in the AM (around 10 I think), went back to the boat for lunch, then spent the afternoon perusing the port, going up the waterfall walk, and spending around 90 minutes up at the fjord center.

Also, don't miss the chocolate shop. I wish I'd bought more! http://geirangersjokolade.no/?page_id=1213

In Bergen, it's really easy to do things on your own. I know there were a lot of people on our cruise that were disappointed with their outside tours there, as well as their DCL tours. The boat docks a couple of blocks from Bergunhus Festning/Bryggen. Rosencranz Tower and Hakon's Hall are there and are really interesting, and there are daily tours in English, free with admission. Just a bit up Bryggen from that is the Bryggens Museum which showcases some actual ruins of old Bergen and information on the Medieval Bergen. And the Funicular is walkable as well (it can get crowded later in the day, so I recommend going earlier in the morning). Beautiful views over Bergen, and a fantastic playground at the top if you have children. Stop by the bakery, God Brodt, it was my family's favorite!

Do you know what people did not like about the tours in Bergen? And specifics would be great. Thanks in Advance!

We will have to try God Brodt, thanks for the tip!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We did this trip this year. But took all shore excursions theough the ship. In hindsight several are easy to do on your own. And regardless of how you book be prepared for the prices. Norway is very expensive

Alesund...we did the rib boat which was fun and expensive but you could easily just walk around town. My grandkids did their own kayak tour which we found close to the port, they enjoyed kayaking around the harbor.

Bergen...as someone said, it is very easy to walk around on your own. Lovely little city. We did the all day train trip...can't remember the name...and it was great.

In Geiranger we did the trip up to the glacier. Enjoyable but weather was cloudy so views were limited. I would not recommend it. There is on off bus you can take up to viewpoints and then back down. Be sure to get off at fjord center and walk back down. Lovely walk and views. My grandkids did bike ride. They loved i

In stavenger we did boat and land tour from ship. It was great boat ride through some fjords and a view of waterfalks and the famous pulpit rock from below to a pretty stop for waffles and then beautiful views back to ship. You could probably do on your own but not sure how. Several people did the hike up to pulpit rock but according To my grand daughter who had friends who did it a lot of people couldn't finish. You must be in shape and hZve the right shoes and be prepared for a fast climb up and back. There are certainly private tours you could do for pulpit rock. I guess the views are incredible but apparently it's not easy.

 

[StitchJoJo]

Thanks for the responses so far! Really eager to see as much of Norways offerings as possible.

 

[Pens Fan]

For Stavenger, if your port times allow, you can book the Lysefjord cruise directly through Rodne.no. We had a short day in Stavenger, so we had no choice but to book through Disney. It wasn't that much more than Rodne anyway, but the boats leave just a very short walk from where you will debark the Magic, so if you can book directly with them, you can save a little money. It was a nice excursion with beautiful scenery. I wish our stay there had been longer. Stavenger looked like a fun town to explore, but we simply didn't have the time.

 

[DahliaRW]

Do you know what people did not like about the tours in Bergen? And specifics would be great. Thanks in Advance!

We will have to try God Brodt, thanks for the tip!

I don't remember specifically. I know a lot were expecting more information with their tours. There were several who did a tour that was supposed to be up Floyen and then of Bryggen, but on Bryggen the guide didn't really give any information, etc. If those are our interests, it's so easy and inexpensive to just do them on your own. Bergen is very walkable.

 

[DahliaRW]

For Stavenger, if your port times allow, you can book the Lysefjord cruise directly through Rodne.no. We had a short day in Stavenger, so we had no choice but to book through Disney. It wasn't that much more than Rodne anyway, but the boats leave just a very short walk from where you will debark the Magic, so if you can book directly with them, you can save a little money. It was a nice excursion with beautiful scenery. I wish our stay there had been longer. Stavenger looked like a fun town to explore, but we simply didn't have the time.

Stavanger is lovely. I spent the afternoon just wandering the port on foot. There is a little lake up behind the main church (you can see the church from where you port) that is really beautiful. This summer the church was closed for renovations, but it'll probably be open next summer if that interests you (I personally love old cathedrals).

 

[Garretts92]

I'm booked on this cruise as well and look forward to the information shared. Thanks for starting the thread. I'm so excited about the potential of this trip

 

[michellekcm]

We did all DCL tours too. In Bergen we did the farm visit - that was really fun. Just about everyone on it said they really enjoyed it, and were surprised how much so.

In Alesund we did the (very expensive) Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff excursion. Even though it cost a lot, we really enjoyed that too. The Sunmore Village was wonderful, and having exclusive access and tons of locals there was great.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You might want to check out trip reports from this summer's cruise. The link to mine is in my signature. I was one of the ones not happy with the DCL tour in Bergen.

 

[StitchJoJo]

You might want to check out trip reports from this summer's cruise. The link to mine is in my signature. I was one of the ones not happy with the DCL tour in Bergen.

Thanks, I have actually followed your trip report before we booked this trip and it was your photos that sealed the deal so to speak! I will go back and read again, and take more note of the finer details.

Which tour did you take in Bergen?

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

In Stavanger (and all ports but one) we did our own thing/tour. This one was the one place our group and other friends on our sailing, felt we needed more time. We were here only around 5 hours so that cut back a lot of things we wanted to do. We knew we wanted to explore the town the most so that's what we did. We loved it and it was so awesome. We also went to the Petroleum Museum and everything was walking distance from the ship. The Petroleum Museum was very interesting and gets high marks on most review sites so keep that in mind. They also had built a new Starbucks near the dock so lots of people getting their caffeine "fix" and wifi "fix". The colored houses and quaint streets were beautiful!

Our sailing (to Iceland) didn't include the other Norway ports you have so can't comment on those

Heather

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks, I have actually followed your trip report before we booked this trip and it was your photos that sealed the deal so to speak! I will go back and read again, and take more note of the finer details.

Which tour did you take in Bergen?

We took the Bergen Highlights tour through DCL, which in itself wasn't bad, we enjoyed getting out of Bryggen. I just think we had bad luck with the tour guide. We did the funicular on or own.

 

[lucky1]

In Stravanger we did the Lysefjord by land and Sea and that was a great day. But you can also arrange a trip to Lysefjord at the peer and that is such a lovely area.
In Alesund, that is the only port we did on our own. We did the Hop on Hop off bus (HOHO) and got off at different exits, which did stop at Sunmore Village, which everyone who went on their own said was great (They visited in the morning, because it was reserved for Disney in the afternoon).
In Gerainger (one of our favorite ports), we did the Hike to a waterfall with Disney. Lovely but would not recommend.. The port itself is very small, so even after our excursion we had time to wander around at the port
In Bergen we did the city tour, which we had a really good tour guide and got to bypass the lines at the Funicar, then broke away from the tour to explore on our own.

 

[LeslieG]

In Stravanger we did the Lysefjord by land and Sea and that was a great day. But you can also arrange a trip to Lysefjord at the peer and that is such a lovely area.
In Alesund, that is the only port we did on our own. We did the Hop on Hop off bus (HOHO) and got off at different exits, which did stop at Sunmore Village, which everyone who went on their own said was great (They visited in the morning, because it was reserved for Disney in the afternoon).
In Gerainger (one of our favorite ports), we did the Hike to a waterfall with Disney. Lovely but would not recommend.. The port itself is very small, so even after our excursion we had time to wander around at the port
In Bergen we did the city tour, which we had a really good tour guide and got to bypass the lines at the Funicar, then broke away from the tour to explore on our own.

Just curious what you didn't like about the waterfall hike in Geiranger.

 

[Flossbolna]

We just walked around Stavanger taking in the sights there on our own, we did enjoy touring the Canning Museum and the Oil Museum as well as just the town which was quite lovely! Earlier in this thread @DahliaRW already recommended God Brodt (and did so before our cruise as well) and we found out that they had shops in Stavanger as well and ended up eating our first Norwegian pastries there. The school bread is to die for!!

In Alesund we did the DCL "Path of Troll with Leisure Time - Adults Only" tour. We expected it to be a long day on a bus and that was exactly what it was. The drive was spectacular though and we loved it. There were some issues with our tour (too little information) and we left feedback about this with DCL. A port adventures manager spoke to us in person then and they actually refunded some of the excursion price. I still would recommend this excursion as it gives you the opportunity to see a different side of Norway - away from the water. It was spectacular. Just make sure to bring a lunch with you from the ship (we were allowed to carry food off the ship in Norway).

In Geiranger we hiked to the Storsetter waterfall on our own. There is a Disney excursion as well, but we thought that that was ridiculously priced for a hike that looked like easily doable on our own. And it was. It was very well signposted, you go to the Fjord Center and from there follow the signs to Vesteras and from there to Storsetter. Just be prepared for a pretty steep hike all the way up. I think all in all it was not too much of a height difference (maybe 400m, about 1300 feet). We also went to Vesteras Fjellet which is a viewpoint from which you can see the Magic down in the fjord. The day of the hike was with a lot of drizzle on and off and we definitely were happy that we had proper hiking rain gear and proper boots. I would not have been able to do the hike in trainers! I needed my hiking boots! We loved it! We skipped the dining room that evening and ate in Cabanas with a wonderful of view of cruising out of the fjord. I think it was the most perfect day of the cruise.

In Bergen we had pre-purchased the Bergen Card and had it mailed to us here in Germany. So, we toured on our own making use of the free public transportation that came with it. Not sure if they mail to the US. Our first stop was Gamle Bergen which is a collection of old wooden houses, most of them with interiors from the 1800s. We took a city bus there directly from the cruise ship dock. We toured the town and the leprosy museum and also included another stop at God Brodt! We took the funicular at around 2pm, by then we only waited about 10 minutes or so. Earlier in the day the line was horribly long.

Hope this helps!

 

[Flossbolna]

Just curious what you didn't like about the waterfall hike in Geiranger.

We hiked to the same waterfall as the one the DCL tour goes to on our own and really enjoyed it, see my post above.

 

[lucky1]

I liked it and was billed as an easy hike, but it was strenuous for someone with Knee issues and grandmother who was with us. Once we got to the waterfall, everyone else was turning around to leave. Don't get me wrong it was very beautiful and for me who is in shape had no problems, but was very hard on someone who was older and not use to the altitude. You get to see a lot of Goats on the hike as you are hiking next to a dairy farm.

 

[DahliaRW]

Just curious what you didn't like about the waterfall hike in Geiranger.

To be clear, the "hike to the waterfall" excursion is totally different from the waterfall walk up to the fjord center (2 completely different things).